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Hong Kong faces manpower shortage in 5 years: C Y Leung

Hong Kong will face a macro shortage of manpower in five years, and one of the possible solutions is to import labor from outside Hong Kong, the city's chief executive C Y Leung said here on Wednesday.

Addressing a luncheon held by the Hong Kong Association of Banks, Leung said the two main challenges that Hong Kong are facing are the shortage of space and the shortage of manpower.

He said data show that Hong Kong's manpower will continue to grow in size until it peaks in 2018, after when, the city will go into "a long period of decline."

"It will not be just a question of mismatch between supply and demand, or the qualification of certain part of our manpower supply, it is a macro shortage situation," he said.

Leung said one of the possibilities to tackle the problem is to import labor from outside of Hong Kong.

"It is a highly sensitive political question, but we need to lay all the facts bare. If we cannot address the question of long- term manpower shortage, particularly in certain industries, Hong Kong's future growth will suffer," he said.